Things Are Afoot

I was lucky enough to have a busy month in September of private weekday walks, which saw me taking people all over London and furnishing them with scintillating bits of information about the things they saw and the places we passed. Here are some of the people I met, who were visiting London from across the globe.

Top left is Nam & Tom visiting from the States, in Trafalgar Square during a walk around Westminster, where they were staying. I did two walks with Layne & Jay, which saw us cover all the big sites in central London over two days. I took their photo in Covent Garden. Dan & Justin from Los Angeles were staying in a hotel on the Strand, so I met them there and showed them around the surrounding area. Bottom right is a team from the homelessness charity Crisis. They are responsible for organising the mammoth effort each year, which sees 10,000 volunteers helping out in shelters in major cities across the country. If you'd like to volunteer over the Christmas period, and help Crisis to help the homeless, then have a look at their website to find out how. I did a walk with them in the area around their office as a sort of team building thing.

Top left is Roda & Marius from Germany, who joined me for an incredibly rainy wander around east London. The main focus was the many pieces of street art that adorn walls and pavements in the area. Next up is Dominique and Chris outside their hotel, the Nadler in Soho where I dropped them off after a wander around Westminster. Bottom left is Kellie & Jeremy from Australia, by the Thames with St Paul's cathedral and the Millennium Bridge behind them. We spent a whole day together on a bit of a London extravaganza tour. Bottom right is Ruth & pals outside the Golden Lion in St James's where I left them for lunch after a walk that took in the sights around Westminster.

John and his Son Chris came on my regular east London walk last year. They returned with Maureen for a walk that took in the area around St Paul's cathedral. I took their photo in Postman's Park in the City of London. It's a remarkable little space that includes a memorial to 'heroic self sacrifice', the brain child of Victorian painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts. Top right is Judith and her family in Southwark cathedral. Judith and her sister from the Netherlands had been on a walk with me previously. Judith has just started a job here in London and her parents were over to help settle her in. Bottom left is Kristy & Co in St James's Park. Bottom right is Tracy & Chris with Tower Bridge behind them.

Top left is Janet and family at the end of our walk in Leicester Square. Top right is Duncan & Hayley. Duncan had been on a walk with me previously, and returned this time with Ellis, a new addition to the family. Bottom left is Cissy & Dave in St Katharine Docks with the Queen's barge 'the Gloriana' behind them. Bottom right is Art, Doug, Marnie and Amy outside Buckingham Palace. I had met them in the morning on the other side of London where they were staying, by the Tower of London, and spent the whole day together taking in all of London's major sights, plus loads of other stuff.

Top left is Peter & Karen during a rather rainy walk through the City of London. I took their photo as we wandered through the legal areas just off Fleet Street of Inner Temple and Middle Temple Hall. Top right is Dennis & Julie from Germany who came on another rather wet walk around east London. Fortunately, they arrived wearing huge plastic bags, so weren't phased by the weather. Another walk around Shoreditch, Spitalfields and Hoxton was with Isabel, Simone, Frank and Jannis, also from Germany. Bottom right is Kelly and her kids at the end of our walk around the area surrounding their hotel by Trafalgar Square. Incidentally, I had an influx of people from Germany joining me last month, as I appeared in German magazine 'Mobil', of which 500,000 copies were printed and distributed on all the Deutsche Bahn trains in Germany.

The final two walks I'm including here were two work walks. The first for a team from CAFOD, the official aid agency for the Catholic Church, who are a lovely bunch that I've done a number of walks for over the years. Lastly we have Hannah and her team on an evening walk from their office by Aldersgate, though the City of London to a pub on Bankside, just south of the river. I took their photo as we passed by St Andrew's by-the-Wardrobe.

If you're visiting London at some point in the not too distant future and would like me to show you around, please get in touch.